What are the Top 10 Prescription Drugs? Protest on Prescription Drug Take-back and Disposal Day

Every year U.S. citizens are prescribed billions of prescription drugs, some of which are never taken for various reasons or expire and need to be disposed of properly. Flushing prescription or OTC drugs down toilets is not a safe disposal method, as those drugs then contaminate drinking water downstream.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation report dated May 2010,

The number of prescriptions dispensed in the US in 2009 increased 2.1% (from 3.8 billion to 3.9 billion), a larger growth rate than the 1.0% increase in 2008 over 2007. From 1999 to 2009, the number of prescriptions increased 39% (from 2.8 billion to 3.9 billion), compared to a US population growth of 9%. The average number of retail prescriptions per capita increased from 10.1 in 1999 to 12.6 in 2009.7 http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/upload/3057-08.pdf

During the last take back day, 5,659 take-back sites were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories.

The above website provides a local take-back collection site anywhere in the USA. The link asks for your county, city, state, and zip code to provide consumers with locations within 10, 25, 50 or 100+ miles of their home base.

So what were the most-prescribed drugs in the USA in the year 2010?

1. Lipid regulators to prevent high blood cholesterol and heart disease. They are called statins. More than 255.4 million prescriptions were filled for statins and other lipid lowering drugs.

2. Antidepressants 253.6 million prescriptions were written for various antidepressant drugs.

3.Narcotic analgesics are those drugs prescribed to relieve severe pain. 244,300 prescriptions were written for these painkillers.

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4.Beta-blockers more than 191.5 million prescriptions were written for beta-blocker drugs.

5.Ace [Angiotensin-converting enzyme] inhibitors are prescribed to treat high blood pressure, migraines, and other conditions. More than 168.7 million prescriptions were filled for ace inhibitors.

Those were the top ten prescription drugs for the year 2010 in the USA as listed by About.comPharma

However, the U.S. Census Bureau stated that the 2010 Census indicated our resident population of the United States on April 1, 2010 was 308,745,538. We can see from only the top ten prescription drugs in 2010, just how dependent healthcare consumers have become on chemicals. There are millions of other prescription drugs I did not include. Realistically, we have a ‘legal drug culture’ in the USA from which Big Pharma makes jillions of dollars each year and inadvertently is ‘pushed’ by medical doctors, as some prescription drugs are misused.

The one thing that could make the prescription drug take-backs sweeter and nicer is if there were cash refunds involved, similar to what folks get when they turn in guns.

So, please don’t forget Prescription Drug Take-back & Disposal Day is Saturday, September 29, 2012, 10 AM to 2 PM somewhere near you. Thanks for helping get drugs out of the hands of those who don’t need them and disposing of them safely.

Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.